“I haven’t told anyone.”
“When were you planning to tell them?”
Kate watched her father climb out of the vehicle and wave. “Oh, four years sounded good,” she said in a voice that sounded thin to her own ears. She pasted a smile on her face for her dad. “My mother has this minor heart condition. It’s not really dangerous, but I don’t want to tempt it. You need to leave,” she whispered emphatically.
“I can’t. They’ve blocked me in,” he said, and his logical statement made her want to cry.
“Katie,” her mother called with a smile as she climbed the steps to Kate’s porch. “Surprise! I hope you don’t mind. I promise we won’t stay long. Just the day. I needed to see you to make sure you’re okay.” She studied Kate with a mother’s knowing eye. “You look a little pale, sweetheart.”
Kate felt her stomach twist and turn with the familiar nausea, but continued to smile as she embraced her mother. “I’m fine. It’s good to see you too. I thought you two were in Branson.”
Her father gave her a quick squeeze and chuckled. “You know your mother. She’s not happy if she hasn’t seen her little chick in a while. Who’s this?” he asked, looking at Michael.
More than anything Kate wished for a magic wand. She would make both Michael Hawkins and her nausea disappear.
Two
“T his is my boss,” Kate said. “I’m taking some time off and he wanted to go over a few minor details on a special project. Michael Hawkins, Tom and Betty Adams,” she said, making speedy introductions. “We’re done,” she added cheerfully. “You can leave now.”
“Oh, there’s no need to rush on our account,” Kate’s mother said. “Katie sent us a newspaper article about your company. Very impressive. She’s always had high praise for you.”
“Thank you,” Michael said, giving Kate a speculative glance. “Kate’s been invaluable. Irreplaceable.”
Irreplaceable as his secretary, Kate firmly reminded herself.
“That’s our Katie,” her father said beaming with pride. “She’s always been special to us.”
Kate’s stomach twisted viciously at how quickly her father’s pride and joy would disintegrate if he knew the truth. She might be a grown woman, but the thought of hurting her parents made her ill. She felt herself go light-headed and blinked. “Come in and make yourselves at home. I’ll be right back,” she said, and dashed for the bathroom.
She sat down on the brass stool beside the pedestal sink for a moment to regain her equilibrium, then splashed her face and took several deep breaths. She wasn’t given to anxiety attacks, but Kate couldn’t imagine a more nerve-wracking situation. Michael Hawkins pressing marriage when he didn’t love her and sitting in her living room with her parents. Biting back a moan, she sank back down on the stool.
The door opened, and Michael appeared.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered. “You’re supposed to be gone.”
He stepped in front of her, crowding her with his body and unhinging her with his intense stare. “Do you do this often?” he asked, crouching in front of her.
“Do what?”
“Pass out.”
“I’m not passing out,” she retorted, irritated with his proximity and her continuing lightheadedness. “I was making sure I didn’t pass out by coming in here. I’m sure I’ll feel much better when you leave. We need to get back out there or my parents—”
“Your mother already suspects something,” Michael said. “She said you looked pale.”
Kate squeezed her forehead. “Oh, no. I knew this would happen,” she wailed, then lowered her voice. “I can’t hide anything from her. I always suspected she had X-ray vision when it came to me. I can’t tell them. It will hurt them terribly.”
“You’ll have to tell them sometime,” he said with a shrug that indicated he truly didn’t comprehend her situation.
“Sometime doesn’t have to be now.”
“What if you were married?” he asked in a tone entirely too intuitive.
“Oh, don’t even go there.” Kate knew her mother had been planning her wedding since before she was born. If Betty Adams could have done things her way, she would have arranged a marriage between Kate and the boy down the street who’d become a dentist, had them move next door and start a family right away. Kate shook her head and stood. “I refuse to compound my bad judgment by making another decision with long-term consequences.”
“Bad judgment?” he said, slowly rising to tower over her.
“By falling for—” She broke off. “By falling into bed with you. You need to leave.”
“Kate,” Michael said, taking her arm.
Her heart tripped, unsettling her, confusing her. She pulled her arm away. “You’ve barely looked me in the eye for two months. Why are you touching me now?”
He paused a half beat, his gaze trapping hers with a power that rocked her. “Circumstances are different now.”
Not different enough, she thought, remembering how he had shattered her hopes to smithereens just weeks ago.
“Kate, you know me better than just about anyone.”
She licked her dry lips and feigned a careless shrug. “So?”
“So you know I get what I want,” he told her, and his eyes might as well have nailed her to the bathroom wall.
Her stomach sank. Kate had seen that look of determination on Michael’s face before, but it had always been about business. Now it was about her, yet not about her. It was about the baby. Hearing footsteps, she felt another sliver of panic and it gave her an urge to argue a rain check. She flung open the door and raced out to greet her mother in the hallway. “Mom, Michael was just leaving and wanted to say good-bye,” she continued without breathing. Maybe if she talked fast, no one would ask questions. “Do you think Dad would mind moving the motor home?”
Kate tossed a quick glance at Michael and saw him watching her the same way a very clever tiger watches his prey. Her pulse picked up.
“It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Adams. I look forward to seeing you again,” he continued, letting Kate know her reprieve was temporary. “We’ll talk soon, Kate.”
“Bye,” she said, biting her lip as she watched him leave.
“I think he might like you, Katie,” her mother said, ever hopeful.
Kate shook her head.
“He couldn’t take his eyes off you,” her mother said. “A man like that, he might make a good husband.”
Kate bit back a dozen corrections and squeezed her mother instead. “Mother, you say every man can’t take his eyes off me. You just want me married,” she teased lightly, but her heart felt heavy.
Michael allowed the evening spring breeze to wash over him as he sat parked in his Lexus down the street from Kate’s duplex. Her parents’ RV had just pulled out of the driveway. Glancing at his watch, he decided to give Kate a five-minute respite before he rang her doorbell.
Despite his reputation as Tin Man, Michael had been unable to dismiss Kate’s pregnancy. The whole situation made him nuts, and he couldn’t recall being more driven about anything than he was now to protect his child from every bad thing that had happened to him during his childhood. Long-buried bitterness roiled in his gut at the thought of his child being deprived or feeling abandoned and trapped.
If that weren’t enough, his protective urge extended to Kate. The idea of her being alone and pregnant with his child was untenable to him. His blood pressure rose just thinking about it and he was determined to convince her to agree to his plan. Checking his watch again, he pulled into her driveway.
Grabbing a sheet of paper from the passenger seat, Michael got out of the car and climbed the steps to Kate’s porch. He rang the doorbell and a calico cat mewed up at him. The outside of her cozy home echoed the warmth of her personality.
Kate answered the door, rubbing her eyes as if she’d been crying. “I didn’t expect you.”
He would be back every day until they got this settled, he thought grimly, wishing she would smile again. “I drove by and noticed your parents had left.” She didn’t invite him in, but that didn’t stop him from entering. “Why are you crying?”
Kate picked up the cat and cradled it in her arms. She shrugged. “I feel very stupid for getting myself in this situation.”
“It took two,” he pointed out, thinking that her home might have had a calming effect on him if he hadn’t felt like climbing the walls. He remembered when Kate used to have a calming effect on him. That time was long gone, he thought with irritation. “We didn’t finish our conversation this morning.”
She shot him a wary glance. “Yes we did.”
“No we didn’t,” he said, fighting a tightening cord of impatience. “There’s only one thing for us to do. We need to get married. There’s no other choice.”
Kate blinked. “That’s not true. We’re not living in the dark ages. Many single women give birth to children.”
“Is that what you want for our child?”
“No, but—”
“Exactly. Kate, I won’t take no for an answer.”
“You seem to forget that marriage takes two. You also seem to forget that you told me in no uncertain terms that you are neither husband nor father material.”
Michael narrowed his eyes, knowing the essence of what she’d said hadn’t changed. “I didn’t have all the facts during that conversation. You hid a very important fact from me. Why?”
“I didn’t want you to marry me because I was pregnant,” she returned heatedly. “Which is exactly what you’re trying to do.”
He ground his teeth. Reasoning with her had been so much easier when she’d been his employee. “People marry for lesser reasons. For the well-being of this child, you and I must marry. Dammit, I won’t have a child of mine born illegitimate and without the financial security I can easily afford. I knew too many kids who suffered under those circumstances and this will not happen to my child.”